Once Mercer County Tournament seeds are announced, the coaches, players, fans and even media begin to break it all down.

The tourney starts Friday with four games at three sites and will conclude exactly one week later on the ice at Mercer County Park.

Let’s break down the seeds, with Notre Dame (15-5) getting the top seed. The Irish are the two-time defending MCT champions and have once again proven to be the class of the conference.

Hun (12-7-1) is a welcome addition to this year’s tourney. Although it is the only prep in the county in the tournament, its presence takes away some of the predictability of the event.

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“The kids are really excited to be in the tournament,” said Ian McNally, Hun’s head coach. “It’s a much different feeling for us having most of our games against Philadelphia teams. The kids are familiar with a lot of the players on the teams and it’ll be fun to go against them.’”

Robbinsville (12-3-1), a finalist last season, earned the third seed. Hopewell Valley (9-9-2) gaining the No. 4 seed instead of Princeton (9-3-2) was the only one that drew questions. Since seeding is determined by power points it came down to two things: Hopewell’s scheduling of more out-of-conference games and the second meeting happening after the MCT cutoff date.

Princeton defeated the Bulldogs twice this season — by a 6-2 score in December and by 8-3 the day after the cutoff.

“We will be ready to play whomever, regardless of the seed,” Princeton head coach Terence Miller said. “At the end of the day all you can do is play whoever you are matched up with. Survive and advance. We are looking forward to the tournament.”

“We are very excited to be the top-seed,” Notre Dame head coach Andrew Ducko said. “At the same time, there is some pressure with it because you are expected to win. There are a lot of good teams in this tournament and there a lots of teams that can win it.”

The MCT opens at 3:30 p.m. at Mercer County Park with No. 9 Hightstown tangling with No. 8 Steinert. The Spartans took both regular season wins. The winner meets top-seeded Notre Dame on Monday.

The other opening round game at Mercer County Park at 5:30 p.m. has No. 5 Princeton facing No. 12 Nottingham. The winner meets Hopewell Valley on Monday at MCP.

“It’s never too late to start all over again,” Hopewell Valley head coach Bob Gialanella said. “It’s a new day, a new beginning and we’re excited about what’s ahead. We are looking forward to a do-or-die game on Monday.”

No. 7 Lawrence travels to Princeton Day’s McGraw Rink to face No. 10 Paul VI. It could prove an interesting game as the Cardinals won the first meeting, 5-4, and the two played to a 3-3 tie in late January.

The winner of that game advances to the quarterfinals to meet Hun.

“I like the way we have played the majority of the season,” McNally said. “We just haven’t had that ‘ah-ha’ moment. We’re hoping it might happen in this tournament.”

Hun’s appearance could certainly provide an “ah-ha” moment for a lot of teams.

One of those teams, WW-P South, will playing in the final first round game. The Pirates led the Valley Division most of the season and would like to make some noise in the MCT.

They have the tough task of facing a team for the third time when it meets WW-P North in the opening round, played at Lawrenceville’s Loucks Ice Center at 9:10 p.m.

“In the 10-plus years that I have been at South we have never matched up against each other in the tournament,” head coach Laurent Lassance said. “No matter what the skill levels between the teams, it’s always a challenge to stay focused and beat a rival team three times in a season. But the game will be fun for all the players, the coaches, parents and the fans. They will do everything they can to prolong their season and play the spoilers.”

The winner of that game will meet Robbinsville in the quarterfinals.

It has been a crazy year with the weather postponements and cancellation, and I have to give kudos to Rich Roche, Notre Dame athletic director, administrator of the CVC and coordinator for the MCT. He handled the problems as they came and did a good job in getting things straightened out.

Cheryl Wolf, the CVC site coordinator, has been excellent again this season and also battled through the weather problems.

Jeremy McDermott and the Mercer County Park Commission rink staff have always had the rink prepared and comfortable for the players and the fans.